Tag Archives: projects

Okay, its been a while since I posted about my simple goals and there are a lot of reasons for that. Not the least of which is that I haven’t had any real time to blog over the past while. I realized the other day that I am working 4 jobs at the moment AND trying to write my thesis. This means that I work a 40hr work week, and come home to work on at least 2 other jobs at night. For example, last Tuesday I worked from 10-6, came home and had a skype meeting for a facilitation contract I’m doing from 6:30-8pm, and then worked on my TA’ing stuff from 8-10pm. I didn’t even touch my thesis. Somewhere in there I’m trying to see M, maybe a couple of friends, call my family and do laundry and any number of other life things that need to happen. It doesn’t really allow for a lot of ‘me time’. Which I think is the thing I miss the most from my student life. Time to cook, check out the neighbourhood, do projects and crafts, listen to the radio, etc etc.

It also means that I haven’t been that good at keeping up with my goals.

Simple Goal #1 of eating more fresh plants has been going okay. I’ve been trying to consciously make sure that there is plant matter in my meals but the fresh stuff has been harder to keep on top of. Given the fact that I don’t really have time to grocery shop, or am too tired to grocery shop, I haven’t been as good about this as I could be. I’m going to try and redouble my efforts the rest of this month though and try to have some at least once a day and work up from there.

Simple Goal #2 has been kind of a flop. M and I spent a lot of time shopping last weekend with my little bit of birthday money and I found 1 cardigan and a cheap stretchy skirt. I like these 2 items a lot but given the amount of time, the number of stores I went into and the things I tried on, it was pretty dismal and I ended up spending my money on film, beads and food. The usual. I’m thinking I might foray into online shopping and see if that yields me better results. If anyone has experience in buying clothes online please send tips. I don’t really like the idea of buying things I can’t try on and am worried I’m going to spend a lot of time sending things back. But I like shops like ASOS, Ruche and Modcloth so hopefully I can find better things. The internet is an amazing place isn’t it?

So, with the so far rounding success moderate optimism of the first 2 goals. Here is SIMPLE GOAL #3: plan direction of stationary drifting

I’ve been really enjoying blogging since I moved over from tumblr earlier this year. I kind of prefer the static nature of an independent blog where I’m not so concerned about people reading, reblogging, networking, etc. Don’t get me wrong, tumblr can be really great for a lot of reasons. I’ve seen some amazing community building happen there but that wasn’t really what I was going for when I decided to start logging my life on the internet so here I am over here now.

I’ve gotten pretty into blogging since then, and into following other people’s blogs. I’ve been using the flipboard app on my ipad to keep track of all the ones I like to read on a daily basis (though I hear bloglovin’ is good too) and through following other people and a fair amount of nerding out on my part I’ve started trying to envision this blog as something more design friendly and aesthetically pleasing, on top of being my online personality. I’m not going to lie, I like the communities that I’ve seen happen through blogs, and (a little bit) the recognition from posting useful things. I certainly like watching my readership spike and grow. SO I’ve been thinking about buying my domain name and fooling around with graphics and making this place uniquely my own.

The reason this is on my goals list for fall is because partially its to remind me to put some attention towards this, and partially its to remind me to do little projects for myself for no other reason than because they make me happy. The blog itself is a project, the projects that happen on this blog are projects and the stuff I blog about are often projects too. Its a reminder to keep myself creative and in touch with myself. In that way, even just doing the small things project as often as I can has helped in keeping me grounded in thinking about the good things in my life and in having a small project to feel happy about. I think this might be the most successful goal I have so far and thank the universe for that.

So you can expect some geekiness around blogging, graphic design, programming and the internet to come out here over the next few months. I’ve been relying pretty heavily on the advice posted on a beautiful mess (also the ladies who inspired these goals). So yea, blogging. Gonna start doing more of that.

Today I am happy that my thesis advisor is so cool. I really just enjoy her company and passion and she always makes me feel like I’m capable of doing this, which is not an easy task at this point. One time she made me tear up because she went on a rant about how smart I am at a time that I was feeling really dumb. I really respect her and I’m trying not to feel too much pressure to live up to her expectations of me.

I’m also happy that my stress at work was significantly eased by a really good, realistic meeting today. Things still seem possible but the timeline has been somewhat adjusted to reflect reality, which makes me feel a helluva lot better about how this whole thing is going to roll out.

I’m happy for rad, intergenerational organizing groups too. I almost skipped out on a meeting I had tonight with a bunch of other prisoner justice groups here in Montreal but I sucked it up and went. I’m really happy I did because I learned A LOT, met a lot of cool people, and left feeling like Montreal has a much more solid PJ community than I ever imagined. I also signed up to get clearance at one of the local federal prisons so that myself and another person in my collective could go in and do some transformative justice workshops for another group that works with folks on the inside. I’m super pumped about that.

So I’m tired but I feel busy, which is good. Like I said a we a days ago, I need to do more with this life and I feel like I’m starting to start that not-exactly-simple goal.

I’m also really excited for my upcoming birthday, I have a package from my dad and Nancy waiting for me at the post office and I can’t wait to pick it up! I’ve been debating whether I want to wait until my actual birthday to open it and be an adult for once in my life, ooooorrrrr not. We’ll see how I feel once its in my grubby lil’ hands tomorrow…..

I have some posts lined up that just need some finishing touches before I post them but I’m too tired and its too late because I got home so late so they will have to wait until tomorrow. One is a picture of a hilarious outfit I’ve been rocking that I love, another is a photo/weekend round up on queer pop, i have to update on my simple goals and goal #3 this week, and I think there’s a couple brewing on crafting and my views on my gender presentation so hopefully I have some time to put those in queue this week. I’ve been really loving blogging these days (probably partially because its getting cooler and I’m better at projects in the non-summer), so to conclude, I’m happy about that too.

I’ve been a terrible blogger, even worse because the post pretty much before this was about me being a terrible blogger and it was dated early May. Oops…

Let’s blame it on the summer shall we? And the fact that I got busy getting married. No promises but I’m gonna out new effort into this blog and try and not be such a flake. I like reading back over it, and have a terrible need to finish what I started (not that there’s really any way to “finish” a blog but you get what I mean). I’ve been feeling a bit misplaced these days and am hoping that renewing my ‘small things’ will help me find where I’m at again.

So, expect the small things to pop up again, and some cooking posts on cooler days. Maybe I’ll even drag Jared back into 52 Themes. I will definitely post about the wedding! I’ve been meaning to blog about the day and how it turned out for so long, and share some of my favorite pictures that I’ve collected from friends and family so far. I have some major pre-30 processing to do (holy crap in less than 2months!). I’ll definitely complain about my thesis a bit/a lot and maybe put up some DIY projects if I do any.

If you’re into reading about those things then great, I look forward to writing about them. But I still gotta soak up a bit more summer so don’t expect me around too much until the weather starts to cool for real and I spend more of my spare time indoors.

the strawberries before the heat and my missing watering them for 2 days massacred them

Sunlight through my office window and on to the plant I inadvertently named Sonia

Today I am happy for lazing around in bed with my boo and how indulgent that feels. Even if I often feel guilty about how unproductive we can get together, I still love the sweet loving times we have together.

I’m happy paid work, even when it frustrates me or I don’t want to do it. Its nice to know that I am employable even if I’ve been a student for so very long (sigh). And having concrete things to do (unlike my ephemeral thesis), is really gratifying.

I’m happy for the excitement I get from looking at my new blog stats and seeing that people have been reading!

Day 17: (feb 22)

fingernail cutting of a moon. quiet night.

Today I am happy that the contract I was working on got approved and I don’t have to stress about it any more.

I’m happy that even if I stay up really late watching tv on the internet for no damn reason, I can sleep in really late to make up for it. I’m happy that I have the kind of lifestyle that affords that. Even if I feel SUPER guilty about missing the day.

I’m happy that I have the house to myself for a while to make dinner and eat it in the quiet by candle light before going back to marking. Simple dinner, simple pleasures.

day 18: (feb 23)

beautiful day, down by the hair salon you can see the mountain

Today I am happy to be done marking. And that it was all good to go.

I’m happy that Marseau has exciting things going on that keep him going, although I miss him a lot today.

I’m happy for my new hair cut! Its been so long since I got a professional one, from nice queers in a lovely salon.

I’m excited for all the new post ideas I have, even though I don’t have the energy to do them tonight, I’m looking forward to the content changes on the blog. I think I’m fitting into a solid idea.

Day19: (feb 24)

Marseau's DJ name, he always does this whenever we go to le Pick Up

Today I’m happy that we had enough money to go out for lunch because neither of us felt like cooking.

I’m happy that I picked up the new Doris Encyclopedia at le pick up’s zine shelf. I loved the Doris Anthology so much, I carried it around like a security blanket for weeks when I got it several years ago. I love the way Cindy Crabb writes, it makes me feel like people out there understand the way I think.

I’m going to put it out there that I hate snow, but I’m happy that it means that I can justify a quiet night at home because I don’t want to go outside. I just want to watch multiple episodes of Numbers and finish knitting Marseau’s hood. I’m also happy that I will be finishing the hood while there’s still snow on the ground so he can stop pestering me about it!

Day 20: (feb 26)

Marseau hanging out in Corrie's installation at Nuit Blanche

I missed yesterday because, well I just missed it.

Today I’m happy for the sun shining through my office window. It makes both me and my plants happy.

I’m happy for the desire to cook returning to me, slowly. I turned off for a bit there but I want it back. I think that Marseau deciding to be vegan has thrown off my small cooking skills and I got a bit discouraged. But I’ve been reading up on vegan cooking for the past while and am trying to learn how to veganize things (with a little bit of cheating). So here’s to enjoying the kitchen again.

I’m also happy for the night that I had last night at Nuit Blanche. I didn’t get to see as much art as I would have liked but I did get to see Corrie‘s piece (which was awesome as usual), and ended the night running into friends at NDQ for a drink at the end of the night. I love that bar, yay for friend owned neighbourhood bars. I’m also happy that despite falling on the stupid ice and hurting my ankle that I didn’t do anything worse to it. I have a tendency to have big injuries from stupid accidents. But that’s another story.

Day 21: (feb 27)

sewing the buttons on M's hood and watching Numb3rs

Today I’m happy to have really needed conversations. To clear the air where it needs to be cleared.

Today I’m happy that I went to bed early (er) last night and got up at a more reasonable time so that I could start to feel like a normal human being again. A productive one that lives in daylight.

I’m excited to get more projects going on so that I can beat this midwinter blues that is shading my enjoyment of life.

Like this:

I’ve been feeling extra stressed these days. Which I’ve been treating in my usual way of distracting myself with projects. It’s not working anymore though and it’s starting to creep into my sleep and my interactions with people. After a morning tiff for no reason I turned on tumblr to find this Grateful project. This person writes what they feel grateful for every day so that they can focus on the good in their life – at least that’s what their grateful post for today said. It resonated for me so I’m going to start trying the same. I like the idea of a project that lasts over longer periods of time. I keep meaning to do one of those self-portrait a day projects. Maybe I’ll combine them….

Like this:

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Stationary Drifting is about being a wandering spirit. Whether that's through the city streets, through various interests and DIY lifestyle choices, or wandering through internet worm holes. I guess only time will tell